Montclair Citadel Band

Bandmaster: Charles Baker
Worthing Corps
Wednesday 31st May

A packed hall waited in expectation for the Montclair Citadel Band from New Jersey to open their short UK tour, the band having flown in earlier in the day, and the bandsmen and bandswomen having had no time to recover from jetlag.

From the crisp opening chords of Dudley Bright's "Are you joyful" it was clear that the band had been well-drilled by their bandmaster, trombonist Charles Baker.  The 5 basses were exceptionally clear and the tuning of the unison cornets was exemplary.  When the euphonium and cornets introduced the slower theme the solo lines were very smooth, with sympathetic support from the two-man percussion section.  Much was made of the contrasting dynamics, and the runs from the cornets at the reprise of the opening were cleanly articulated.  With a tidy cut off it made for a cracking start to the programme, the band having a full, round sound, if a little on the loud side for the hall - the band filled the platform, which takes the full width of the hall, so there was not much room for the sound to disperse.

They then moved straight into James Curnow's devotional setting of the words "Come home", with the first real opportunity for Principal Cornet Michael Baker to come to the fore.  The melody passed neatly to the horns and then to the full cornet bench, before being taken up by the euphoniums, led by Aaron VanderWeele.  Fiona Baker's full flugel sound also shone through, despite the somewhat unusual layout with flugel and solo horns being seated behind the 2 firsts and 2 seconds.

Again without announcement the band broke into Bruce Broughton's thrilling take on the Manx hymn tune "The Good Old Way", the bottom of the band setting forth their wares, with the three trombones making a telling contribution.  The fugato section was full of life and excitement, before the horn section's delicate rendition of the melody at half-tempo, with the side drum maintaining the original pulse.  The brief percussion interlude was deftly-handled, leading into the reprise of the fugato, although the trombone glissandi seemed a little tame.

Major Alistair Bate, the Commanding Officer of Montclair Citadel, then gave a little insight into the corps and its ministry, combining worship with service to the community, and the role the band plays within it.  Introductions throughout the evening were shared amongst the bandsmen, each of whom explained a little of their own background before announcing what was to be presented.

The first soloist of the evening was Michael Baker, who has been Principal Cornet with the band for ten years, and who is an established freelance trumpeter in the New York area.  Recently appointed Deputy Bandmaster, he was due to fly to Rome straight after the band's visit to the UK to meet up with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for their tour of Italy.  Douglas Court's arrangement of "Standing on the Promises" allowed him to demonstrate his considerable prowess on both flugel and trumpet.  Opening on flugel, he displyed a warm, jazz-influenced tone, with some free-flowing improvisatory lines: occasionally the band was a little heavy but the scoring allowed the flugel windows in which to perform, so most of the solo line came across.  The switch to trumpet co-incided with a change to a straighter style of playing, with more of an on-going impetus, which took him right through to his final top "F".

Ray Steadman-Allen's setting of the shaker melody "Simple gifts" would have benefitted from a lighter approach from the band, as a little of the fun seemed lacking, although the notes were all there.  Once again, the flugel came through well, and the horn variation on the melodic line was effective.

Andrw Baker, the band's Principal Tuba, has recently attained his degree in tuba performance.  Playing the finale of Martin Ellerby's "Tuba Concerto" (written for Steve Sykes) he communicated well with the audience, whilst the band coped manfully with the tricky accompaniment.  The at times angular lines, high-speed runs and awkward intervals were allowed to flow smoothly as the tuba emerged from the sound of the band.  In the high-lying lyrical section he demonstrated a most attractive sound, and then kept the pulse going clearly through the unaccompanied bars towards the end of the piece.   All in all it was a virtuosic rendition, jetlag notwithstanding!

Following a brief scripture reading and thought, trombonist Mark R Baker presented a setting of the folk song "Waley, waley" with the title "When I survey".  The quasi declamatory trombone over muted cornets at the start came across very well, and the sustained chords from the band were well-balanced, resting on the fifths and octaves in the basses.  The second verse saw the cornets with the melody set against a euphonium counter-melody, until the soloist entered again, soaring over the band for a few bars before returning to the melody.  The effective arrangement came to a close with an improvisatory passage from the soloist, who ended the piece on the super-tonic, leaving behind a somewhat wistful impression.

The final item in the first half was a recent arrangement by Mark Freeh of the "Concertino, Op 94" by Dmitri Shostakovich, the centenary of whose birth is being celebrated this year.  Originally written (in 1953) for himself and his son to play as a piano duet, the arrangement has undergone a couple of revisions in the course of the collaboratation between Mark Freeh and the band.  The fierce unison opening for the bottom half of the band was followed by more delicate interchanges between cornets and horns.  As the tempo picked up, a melody on solo cornet and soprano (Ronald Waiknoris, Bandmaster of the New York Staff Band) was answered by the euphoniums.  There was a striking resemblance between the march-like figure, so typical of the composer in ironic mood, and the old Salvation Army tune "Marching Along", and Shostakovich also included his trademark musical signature - "DSCH" being transcribed according the German nomenclature as "D, Eb, C, B".  A quiet interlude for horn and cornet also featured some almost imperceptible pianissimo phrases on euphonium, before the basses came to the fore once more.  As the music came to its uplifting final bars, the item was very well received.

As a precursor to the interval, two bandsmen came up with some humorous dialogue to promote their available recordings, including the explanation that the reason they were not wearing festival tunic sprang from bad associations with Redcoats in the past.  To lead into the interval the band played Stephen Bulla's march "Montclair Citadel", featuring "Onward Christian Soldiers" in various guises, including one section with jazz-tinged harmonisations and the occasional quirky twist to the melodic line.  The final section brought the various elements together with the melody, much as in Ivor Bosanko's "Marching Along".

The band opened the second (and much shorter) half with "Joyful, joyful" by Len Ballantine, capturing the style well, although it was all a little relentless.  They followed this with a choral item, arranged by William Himes, "Goodbye world, goodbye".  This gospel song, looking forward to the death of the christian in a very positive manner, and including such lines as "Don't you weep for me when I'm gone", was chosen by the arranger's first wife as she planned her funeral service.  Accompanied initially by just one BBb bass and side drum, the lively rendition made the most of the close harmony writing.  Towards the end, the sole tuba was joined by the two euphoniums and an EEb bass for a couple of instrumental choruses before the singers returned at the end.

Aaron VanderWeele, until recently Deputy Bandmaster at Montclair Citadel, occupies the position of Principal Euphonium in the New York Staff Band.  He has recently been joined there by Emilee Bennett, who has just been appointed on baritone, having spent some time as Principal Euphonium with the New Jersey Youth Band.  Together they presented Norman Bearcroft's euphonium duet "Timepiece" based around the tune "My grandfather's clock".  Emilee was certainly not overawed by her illustrious companion, and the balance between the two parts was excellent, Aaron's silky tones in the upper register being complimented by her rich sound on the lower part.  The runs passed seamlessly from one to the other and the unison passages were spot on.  In the slow section they showed considerable empathy one for the other, and the performance as a whole was a resounding success.

Peter Graham's "Renaissance" was writen as a companion piece to his earlier "Shine as the light", and both works make use of songs by Joy Webb.  "Renaissance" combines her song "Come into our world" with the familiar hymn "When morning gilds the skies", opening with basses and euphoniums, on this occasion with very prominent pedal notes.  Muted cornets are joined by horns before the first statement of the chorus of "Come into our world", initially on cornet then passing to euphonium.  The full band takes up "When morning gilds the skies" before a mini cadenza on the euphonium leads to the full statement of "Come into our world", sensitively brought by Michael Baker.  Solos for euphonium, trombone, flugel, baritone and horn all followed on smoothly, and the ensuing shot notes alternating between the various sections were very well drilled.  The final statement came across powerfully, with its triplet counter-melody gainst the 4/4 tune, although a third percussionist was sorely missed , with parts omitted including the tam-tam roll at the climax, whilst the bass drum strokes in the last section were rather lack-lustre.  Nevertheless, the band's full sound compensated in part for this, and they were applauded warmly as the final chord echoed around the hall.

Following a couple of presentations and words of appreciation from the Mayor of Worthing, who had received the band at the Council Offices earlier in the day, there was room for just one encore in the form of William Gordon's cracking march "Salvation's Song".  Taken at a good fast tempo, the rhythms were kept very tight,with the off-beats carefully placed.  The euphoniums were secure and precise as they soared above the band, and there was little or no sign of tiredness.  Everyone agreed it had been an excellent evening's music-making, even if it would have been nice to have a little more quiet playing to balance out the fireworks, good as they were.

Peter Bale

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